Bishops Warn Poland On Low Vote Turnout

June 21, 1988|By Paula Butturini, Chicago Tribune.

WARSAW — Official figures published Monday showed that a record low number of voters participated in Sunday`s local elections, and the nation`s powerful Roman Catholic bishops warned communist authorities about the dangers of society`s lack of participation in national life.

Only 56 percent of Poland`s 26 million eligible voters took part in the elections, the official Polish news agency reported.

Poland`s National Bishops Conference, in a strong statement issued after a two-day meeting in the northeastern city of Bialystok, called on the government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski to legalize union pluralism and allow citizens to form associations free of government interference.

The bishops pointed to the recent outbreak of labor unrest-the worst since the Solidarity trade union was crushed and martial law imposed in December, 1981-as the result of a lack of participation by the people in the nation`s political life.

``It is just this insufficiency of participation, particularly felt among the young generation of workers and students, which manifested itself in the events of the end of April and beginning of May,`` the bishops wrote.

``Its causes are mainly contained in the progressing impoverishment of society, which is deepened by the significant increase in the cost of living of families.``

The bishops minced no words in referring to the reform package that authorities have been ballyhooing since last fall.

``The difficulties are amplified by the lack of conviction about the effectiveness of reforms because numerous announcements fall short of equally energetic actions,`` they wrote, calling for ``courageous and farsighted transformations`` in the economic, social and political spheres.

Authorities had billed Sunday`s vote as an important step toward

``socialist democracy,`` a phrase that became the focal point of opposition jokes.

What`s the difference between democracy and socialist democracy? The jokes asked. Answer: The same as the difference between a jacket and a straightjacket or a chair and an electric chair.

Before Sunday`s elections, the previous low turnout was registered last November, when 67.3 percent of eligible voters took part in a nationwide referendum on economic and political reform.

Such low voter turnouts are virtually unheard-of in communist nations, where voters are often required by law to vote or are pressured to

participate. In Poland, election turnouts were regularly as high as 98 or 99 percent until the birth of the Solidarity trade union in August, 1980.

``These elections were a political non-event,`` said Janusz Onyszkiewicz, national spokesman for the banned Solidarity trade union.

``People knew that choice was nonexistent. People just don`t buy appearances of change.``

Solidarity had urged voters to boycott the elections, arguing that there was no hope of choosing candidates freely and democratically.

The government, as part of its economic and political reform, had promised significant electoral reform last fall. Although the elections were the first held under a new law that requires at least two candidates for each position, the ballot remains organized in such a way that Communist Party candidates and their allies are guaranteed a large majority.

In addition, all candidates must be approved by communist authorities, and rivals for any one seat were from the same party, factory or government ministry to avoid any real political fights.

A group of farmers in northeastern Poland, shortly before the elections, complained that in their village more than half the candidates they nominated had been replaced by candidates chosen by officials.

Many Solidarity leaders initially thought the outlawed union should participate in the elections and encourage Poles to do the same, said Jacek Kuron, a leading activist.

``We thought that by participating, we would vote for democracy,`` Kuron said. ``The problem is that the elections were phony and nothing like what the government promised a year ago. And it proves that those in the government who were for real electoral change lost to the hard-liners.``

Kuron said he disagreed with a government explanation that the low turnout was caused by Poland`s economic troubles.

``It`s not economic, but political,`` he said. ``People are of the opinion that this government can`t do anything to carry out real reform.``

Solidarity officials said there was no way to verify the government`s 56 percent turnout figure.